HERE IS WHAT SOME OF OUR
GUESTS HAVE TO SAY:“If I were to try to imagine the
most exquisite tea, in the most
magical setting, prepared by the
most warmly charming hostess,
I would have imagined our
afternoon tea of today! It was
my tea dream come true.”

No afternoon at a New England inn is complete without afternoon tea. The
Kismet sustains this ritual with the same painstaking care showered on its
signature meals. Tea bags are out; the tea, stored in tight lid containers so
as to leave the aroma in tact, is specially brewed in the eastern mode, where
the water is boiled, then poured into the teapot together with a hand-picked
mix of different black loose leaf teas and the addition of cardamom or
cinnamon; next, the teapot wrapped in cloth is put on the kettle which
is placed on the gas, so as to let the water simmer while brewing the tea, thus locking in the full aromas of the ingredients.
The same patient process goes into the confections served with the brew; made by my own hand, one is a rice confection
consisting of rice flour, rose water and egg yoke, another has chick peas as its chief ingredient, though not the chick peas used
for cooking but the kind that makes chick pea nut flour, to which ghee and cardamom are added. There are many other little
delicacies, such as walnut pastry, to make your afternoon tea a unique part of Kismet’s total sensuous experience. Here at
Kismet Inn the tea will be specially brewed over a samovar to bring out the real essence of the tea.

You may also choose to indulge in some intellectual pampering at Kismet Inn’s library with books on fiction, history, geography,
philosophy, science, theology, art and many more – if you can’t find what you want, Bath's elegant and historic Patten Free
Library is just a few steps away.

Samovar

The samovar originated in Russia. (When Russian merchants traveled to China, they would stop on the way to rest and brew
their tea over a fire. They eventually came up with the idea of a samovar.) The original samovars had a thick tube in the center
where coal was placed, generating heat to boil the water. After the water boiled it was poured into the teapot, which was then
placed on top of the samovar to brew the tea as well as to be kept warm. The tea, fragrant and strong, could be diluted with
hot water from the samovar according to the individual’s taste. This method has been used for two centuries all over the
Middle East, Russia and Turkey where people drink tea frequently throughout the day.